WELD COUNTY, Colo — Opening statements began Friday in the second trial for Steve Pankey, who's charged in the 1984 death of 12-year-old Jonelle Matthews.
Pankey previously went to trial in the same case last fall, but the jury could not reach a consensus on charges of first-degree murder, felony murder and second-degree kidnapping. A mistrial was declared on those counts; however, jurors did convict Pankey of false reporting.
Jonelle was last seen on Dec. 20, 1984, when she was dropped off at her Greeley home following a Christmas concert. When her father returned home about an hour later, Jonelle was not there.
The case stumped investigators for decades until July 2019 when Jonelle's remains were found by oil workers digging in a Weld County field. More than a year later, in October 2020, a grand jury indicted Pankey on charges of first-degree murder, second-degree kidnapping with a weapon, as well as two-sentence enhancing crimes of violence counts.
The indictment says Pankey took Jonelle from her home between 8:30 and 9:30 p.m. Dec. 20, 1984. At some point during the kidnapping, the indictment says, Pankey shot Mathews “intentionally and after deliberation.”
Prosecutors conceded during his first trial that there was no DNA linking Pankey to the crime. Analysts tried but were unable to recover any useable DNA from Jonelle's remains or clothing, which were buried in a field for more than three decades.
They instead relied heavily during the trial on circumstantial evidence and Pankey's statements and odd behaviors over the years to paint him as the killer.
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